The Eclipse

DiscoStu

strumjoughlamps said:

'Totality' is today's word apparently.

Like, totally.

merlin

ICBM said:

merlin said:

I went down to Cornwall to see it in all its glory. Abso-lucky-footling amazing. 

You must have been in a luckier part of it than me... we went there too, and it was completely cloud covered. It did go dark, but it was something of a major disappointment, especially given how overcrowded it was. (I'm aware that we were part of the crowd!)

We were in north Cornwall and there weren't any clouds and we got the full thing. Dogs barking, birds flying everywhere, darkness, cooler. Very impressive indeed.  

Kittyfrisk

I remember the partial in 1996 in the NE. Birds weren't flying anywhere, they were all off roosting as it got dark & cool.

This one

viz

merlin said:

ICBM said:

merlin said:

I went down to Cornwall to see it in all its glory. Abso-lucky-footling amazing. 

You must have been in a luckier part of it than me... we went there too, and it was completely cloud covered. It did go dark, but it was something of a major disappointment, especially given how overcrowded it was. (I'm aware that we were part of the crowd!)

We were in north Cornwall and there weren't any clouds and we got the full thing. Dogs barking, birds flying everywhere, darkness, cooler. Very impressive indeed.  

We went to Port Isaac and stood with the whole village on the cliff. It had been getting slightly twilighty for about 30 minutes as the sliver of the sun got thinner and thinner, and we thought, is this it? What's all the fuss about? And then, I will never forget it, a MASSIVE shadow, a wall of darkness, hurtled towards us over the horizon and across the sea at 1000 miles an hour; it rushed over us and enveloped us; everything went immediately dark, all the seagulls flew out of the holes in the cliffs, squawking madly, the lights in the village all came on and the village twinkled like it was a winter's night, we'd all been sitting down on the grass but everyone just leapt to their feet as one, hysterically laughing, crying, dancing; we found ourselves holding hands and hugging people we didn't know as we jumped up and down, yelling our heads off. We only had 50 seconds I think, but it was absolutely magical. Then the end of the shadow, with daylight behind it, came rushing towards us again over the sea, the daylight was restored, we looked at each others' grinning and tear-streamed faces, and everyone slowly, breathlessly, made their way down the hill and back to their cottages again. 

ArchtopDave

Thick cloud here in the North East, so not even a partial eclipse visible.

On the other hand, my son, who has lived in New Jersey for a long time, is married to a Texan, so he and his family have been down in Texas for a few days to see the total eclipse. 

hollywoodrox

Dominic said:

Total eclipse of the heart

Turn around bright eyes

horse

DesVegas said:

roundthebend said:

Philly_Q said:

Was there a solar eclipse visible from the UK about 25 years ago?  I remember it was cloudy over London that day so you couldn't really see much, it didn't go properly dark but it certainly got darker and the temperature dropped.  It was quite eerie.

Yes. I recall it exactly as you do. Little bit duller and a slight temperature drop.

Me dad bought home welding glass plates so we could all see it . I remember the shadows ripling like water waves

 I remember similar on acid in the 90s

tone1

I remember our eclipse in ‘99…..Southwest was bloody rammed solid 

Stratavarious

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/resources/idt-30cbf852-1282-4ed9-9ec9-c9144ed9c8fb

ToneControl

ICBM said:

merlin said:

I went down to Cornwall to see it in all its glory. Abso-lucky-footling amazing. 

You must have been in a luckier part of it than me... we went there too, and it was completely cloud covered. It did go dark, but it was something of a major disappointment, especially given how overcrowded it was. (I'm aware that we were part of the crowd!)

we went down there too
stayed at a farm on the Lizard.

I'd given up on the cloud breaking up, and left my camera gear i the house.
Just before the eclipse, a gap appeared in the clouds just where the sun was, we could hear lots of whooping and cheering from the small festival site about a mile away, and we got to see the whole thing.
My photos are from a 35mm autofocus pocket camera though, so they look rubbish

I spoke to locals the next day who'd sailed out to sea 20 miles and still failed to see it, I'm glad we stayed put

Nitefly

Timcito said:

I can understand astronomers and sky watchers getting excited over this, but everybody else? Meh ...

But Earth is the only place we know of where it happens so precisely - nowhere else has the same alignment of sizes of bodies...

Sporky

I liked the pictures from space. 

Kurtis

ToneControl said:

ICBM said:

There is no dark side of the Moon really.

Matter of fact, it's all dark.

Eh? 

ICBM

Kurtis said:

ToneControl said:

ICBM said:

There is no dark side of the Moon really.

Matter of fact, it's all dark.

Eh? 

All that you touch
And all that you see
All that you taste
All you feel
And all that you love
And all that you hate
All you distrust
All you save
And all that you give
And all that you deal
And all that you buy, beg, borrow or steal
And all you create
And all you destroy
And all that you do
And all that you say
And all that you eat
And everyone you meet
And all that you slight
And everyone you fight
And all that is now
And all that is gone
And all that's to come
And everything under the sun is in tune
But the sun is eclipsed by the moon

Sassafras

Scientists noticed that animals behaved differently during an eclipse. That's incredible and extremely surprising. 
We don't pay scientists anywhere near enough money.

guitars4you

Dominic said:

Total eclipse of the heart

Sounds like it has benefitted Bonnie - Chart success and more income - Even predicted to exceed $1 million

WezV

https://vm.tiktok.com/ZGeuYW9bC/

 An increase in searches for "my eyes hurt" closely correlates with time and path of the eclipse

I once joked with an optician about staring at an eclipse when they found an issue with my retina a few weeks after a partial one.   They did not find it funny.  It went in my referral letter to the hospital.  They didn't find it funny either. 

DefaultM

WezV said:

https://vm.tiktok.com/ZGeuYW9bC/

 An increase in searches for "my eyes hurt" closely correlates with time and path of the eclipse

I once joked with an optician about staring at an eclipse when they found an issue with my retina a few weeks after a partial one.   They did not find it funny.  It went in my referral letter to the hospital.  They didn't find it funny either. 

Shit… I’ve been looking at photos of it all morning… Will I be okay?